Saturday, July 25, 2009

Ramasun and nang Maekhala



Ramasun sees Nang Maekhala playing in the clouds with her magical crystal; desires to posess it and chases her. Unable to catch neither Nang Maekhala nor the crystal, Ramasun becomes angry and throws his magical axe.

ramasun nang maekhala



Nang Maekhala

White in color, she is the daughter of Paya Mangorn (dragon king of the Oceans) - she posesses a character which likes to sing and dance and travel around seeing places. Her father Paya mangorn took her and offered her to Phra Intr (the God indra), along with the gift of a magical crystal. Then Phra Intr elected her to be the guardian of the great Oceans, and gave her the job of helping sailors whose ships were damaged and preventing them from sinking. Nang Maekhala would spend a period of seven days at a time travelling around in the sky playing in the cloud, whereupon she would take one day out of every seven to come down and check over the oceans to see if there were any ships or sailors in need of her assistance, in which case she would help accordingly.



Ramasun

Ramasun is a Yaksa; green in color with bulging eyes and a grimacing mouth. he wears the crown of the "Mongud gaap pai" type. His weapons are the arrow and a diamond axe. He has a very cheeky and daring personality. He lives in the clouds in the sky. One day Ramasun took his axe and was flying through the clouds, when he saw Nang Maekhala playing in the clouds, throwing her magic crystal and catching it again in the air. He felt a great desire to posess this crystal, and so attempted to steal it from her. However he tried, Ramasun was unable to win the crystal from Nang Maekhala, being too fast and agile for him. She teased him by holding the crystal between her fingers in one hand, dancing and beckoning him to come and get it. Ramasun became very angry and threw his axe at her repeatedly, but no matter how he tried he was powerless to catch her and she was easily able to avoid his axe every time he threw it. He tried to chase after her for a long time but finally had to give up because of her agility and the power of her magic crystal.

Folk in olden times believed that the sound of thunder was the sound of Ramasun's diamond axe being thrown, and that lightning flashes were the blinking flashes coming from Nang Maekhala's magical crystal as she threw it through the clouds to tease Ramasun. The sound of thunderclaps was believed to be the sound of the diamond axe colliding with nang Maekhala's magic crystal..



Pra Orachun (Arjuna)

Above pic; Pra Orachun with Pra Gritsana (Arjuna and Krishna) - Orachun is the figure to the left with the arrow quiver on his back. Arjuna appears in the Hindu "Mahabharata" epic as Krishnas companion.

As Ramasun was unsuccessfully chasing Nang Maekhala, Pra Orachun flew in front of him, and he became extremely angry and offended, accusing Pra Orachun of being disrespectful and insulting him. A fight ensued between the two; Pra Orachun hovered above Ramasun and climbed onto his shoulders, taking his sword and stabbing at Ramasun.


But Ramasun was quick to defend and rose his axe to block the blow, pulling Pra Orachun down from his shoulders. He then grabbed Pra Orachun by the legs and swung him round to fling him against "Pra Sumen" (mount Meru). The force of his throw and the subsequent collision caused Pra Sumen to lean to one side, killing Pra Orachun instantly.
Another appearance of Ramasun in the Ramakian was an instance when he attacked Pra Ram (Rama), but was unable to compete with him at al. This resulted in Ramasun offering his arrow as a gift in respect to Pra Ram. Pra Ram took this arrow and gave it to Pra Pirun to look after, with the condition that whenever Pra Ram should call out to him, then Pra Pirun, should throw it down to him from the sky.

Pra Pirun in Thai Buddhist belief is considered to be an assitant to Pra Intr (Indra) and the God of Rain. The statue of Pra Pirun riding a Naga which is so famous in Thailand is the monument of the University of Agriculture, because the rain is such a key aspect for the growing of crops. His duty is to ensure the rains fall at the appropriate time according to the seasons. At the start of the rainy season, pra Pirun should be revered with a ceremony to call for the rains in order to irrigate the crops successfully and ensure a good harvest.